@Skynet – From reading what you wrote, I think I somewhat understand why chem is required. The knowledge of what goes on inside the computer and how it works … well that makes sense. I suppose it would be like all general high school courses, there is a part of the course that actually matters to your career path. I really don’t have enough knowledge about chemistry (as I haven’t taken it yet) to judge, but I get the feeling that’s what it’ll be like.

After contacting the software engineering department at Waterloo (and explaining that I had the problem of gr 12 chem vs computer engineering) they told me that the first year chem course is a follow on from the gr 12 chem and that, even though some engineers do not use chemistry in their careers, the first year university course emphasizes problem solving rather than strict chemistry facts. Although I’m not convinced that chemistry is very useful for software engineering, I now have a little more understanding of it.

As I stated on the forum, I believe that the primary reason behind including Chemistry (and Physics, and Electricity, etc) is that it is an Engineering program, and a SoftEng should be able to learn (if necessary) any aspect which may interfere with their program’s operation.

When you take Chem, you learn about electrons, various types of metals (including things like silicon and germanium, key parts in computers). You’re also formally taught about the differences between various metals – what oxidizes, what doesn’t. When you take the Electricity and Magnetism course, the prof relies on you knowing these things already – knowing that like charges repel, knowing that silicon is a semiconductor. All of this information prepares you for the possibility of actually having to care about what goes on inside a computer at the low level, should your career ever throw that at you. Some software engineers take analog circuit design, which requires all of the foundations mentioned above. You may not need to care now, but you’ll have the knowledge to build upon if necessary, and it’s the potential to understand everything about your chosen field which will help you become an engineer.

I figure that for the purposes of a scientific foundation, any other science (in addition to physics) would do. You would probably draw as much experience out of biology. Though a credit in chemistry offers the additional benefit of Engineering accreditation, so the choice is clear. Just think of the Iron Ring — it’s worth putting up with a couple of intro chemistry courses